I watched her walk away from me.

I'd laid it all out there for her.

I'd poured my goddamn heart out.

And she still walked away.

Sinking down on the couch, I threw my head back and groaned.

What the fuck did I expect?

She was never going to leave him.

And I was always going to be the one that lost.

The sound of my phone ringing in my pocket drew me back to the present. I debated ignoring it, but then I thought twice about it. It could be her.

When I slid it out of my pocket and saw Kyle's name flash across the screen, I frowned.

"Kyle," I acknowledged, placing my phone to my ear. "What's up?"

"Is Hope with you?" he came straight out and asked.

"No," I lied, for her sake more than mine. I had no fucking problem laying my cards out there for the world to see, but she wouldn’t want that. "I haven't seen her."

A string of muttered curse words came down the line then.

"Why?" I asked, tone level. "What's going on?"

"He's out," Kyle choked out, voice torn.

My brows shot up. "Your father?"

"If that's what you want to call him," Kyle sneered. "Bastard was released first thing this morning."

Well, shit…

I'd been forewarned all about the piece of shit that was David Henderson back when I'd been asked to watch the boys last month.

"What do you need?" I asked without hesitation.

Kyle was a proud man. Making this call couldn’t have been easy for him. He needed something from me, and I wasn’t about to make him crawl for it. Regardless of the fact that I was in love with his daughter, I respected the hell out of him. He was Noah's brother. Noah was my family, and my loyalties extended to every member of his family.

"I have a cabin in Vale. I'm taking Lee away there until the dust settles and I can figure this shitbomb out," he announced. "Cash and Casey, too." He paused and then exhaled a heavy sigh. "Chances are I'm overreacting, and he won't bother with us. But I can't take the risk. Not with her."

I got it.

One hundred percent.

"What do you need from me?"

"My kids, Luck," he said gruffly. "I need to know they're safe." He paused again and exhaled another ragged breath. "It's not that I'm not worried about the triplets, but they've been around the block a time or two and I know they can handle themselves. But Hope? She's not like me or her brothers She's…vulnerable –"

I cut him off by saying, "I won't let anything happen to her."

"I know you won't," he replied after a long pause. "That's why I'm asking you."

* * *

Hope

I drove blindly for hours, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened, while trying and failing not to break down.

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks as I drove, and I gave in to the gut wrenching pain in my heart, allowing myself to cry hard and ugly.

I was sure anyone who pulled up alongside me when I was stopped at the red light would think I was a raving lunatic, but I didn’t care anymore.

"I love you more…"

"You think any of this is easy for me? I've been through this before, Hope, and I lost. Do you think it's easy for me? Putting myself out there again?"

"I'm here because you are worth it. I am fighting an unbeatable battle because I am so far deep in love with you that none of it matters. Nothing else matters to me. Just you."

My phone continued to ring loudly, but I didn’t dare answer it.

Even when my father's name appeared on the screen, I sent him straight to voicemail.

I couldn't talk to anyone right now.

My heart felt like it had cracked clean open and was now oozing poison into my other organs.

I felt utterly ruined.

When I walked through the front door of Jordan's house later that night, I was still reeling. Dropping my purse on the bottom step of the staircase, I trudged into the living room to where Jordan and Annabelle were sitting around the coffee table eating pizza.

Numb, I stood in the doorway watching them.

"Hey, Hope," Annabelle greeted brightly when she noticed me. "Are you hungry?"

I shook my head, still numb.

Jordan frowned at me in concern. "Are you okay?"

Again, I shook my head.

I wasn’t okay.

I didn’t think I would ever be okay again.

He stood up and walked over to me. "What's wrong?" I could see the concern in his green eyes as he stared down at me. "Hope?"

I don’t want to be here… The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t have the courage to voice them. I'm in love with another man.

Because I was.

I thought he was a passing attraction. A kiss that I would remember in the middle of the night. A heartwarming notion I would cling to as I grew older as Jordan's wife.

Little did I know, he was going to pull the rug from beneath me and turn my world upside down.

I was in love with Hunter Casarazzi.

I was recklessly, senselessly, and completely in love with him.

I thought back to that night on the phone when he told me not to fall in love with him, either.

I had been so naïve back then.

And even though it was only a few short months ago, it felt like a lifetime.

"I just realized I forgot my phone at Teagan's," I choked out, needing to be anywhere but in this house, looking at him. Forcing down the lump in my throat, I added, "I'm going to go get it."

I didn’t wait for his response.

Instead, I turned on my heel and rushed back out the front door.

Emotionally drained, I collapsed in the driver's seat of my truck, covered my head in my hands, and desperately tried to force my mind to go blank. To think of anything but the two men who were pulling me in opposite directions.

I was in love with two entirely different men.

One was wild and unattainable and willing to attach his flag to my messed-up mountain.

The other was broken and I had already attached my flag to his.

Fuck…

I couldn’t be here.

Not tonight.

I needed to get away.

I needed to leave.

Do a Teagan on it and haul ass out of the country.

Seemed like the perfect solution right now.

But then I thought of the seven miserable long years we had endured alone.

I couldn’t do that.

I couldn’t go through that pain again.

Not without Teagan at least.

But she was loved up and married now. I doubted she wanted to uproot her world and move back to Cork with me.

In fact, I knew the answer would be a hell no.

I debated driving straight to South Peak Road and curl up in a ball on her lap, but I couldn’t do that.

I couldn’t put them in this positon.

Hiccupping loudly, I cranked the engine of my truck and drove off in the direction of the only place I wanted to be right now.

Thirteenth Street.

I was going home.